"More fundamentally, as a society, I don't think we should be drawing lines between Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
"They contribute to our strengths as a society and our economy. Singapore is an immigrant nation and openness is one of our society's core strengths that has defined who we are."
Meanwhile, local PMET unemployment also generally remains at 3 per cent or lower outside crises, he said. The long-term unemployment rate is even lower, at below 1 per cent.
"The increase in foreign PMETs has not caused our unemployment rate to rise," Dr Tan said.
The number of PMET job vacancies has also been on an upward trend since 2010, and has been hovering around 30,000 over the past five years.
These job openings are spread across various sectors, with 4,300 unfilled PMET jobs in infocomm, 4,100 in finance, and 2,700 in professional services, for instance.
"If every additional foreigner results in one less opportunity for locals, why are there still so many unfilled vacancies? Surely these vacancies should have long been filled," Dr Tan pointed out.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...ent-and-wage-growth-despite-foreign-pmets-tan
